Page 134 - UTOPIA

chaste, and abstain from eating any sort of flesh; and thus
weaning themselves from all the pleasures of the present
life, which they account hurtful, they pursue, even by the
hardest and painfullest methods possible, that blessedness
which they hope for hereafter; and the nearer they approach
to it, they are the more cheerful and earnest in their endea-
vours after it. Another sort of them is less willing to put
themselves to much toil, and therefore prefer a married
state to a single one; and as they do not deny themselves the
pleasure of it, so they think the begetting of children is a
debt which they owe to human nature, and to their country;
nor do they avoid any pleasure that does not hinder labour;
and therefore eat flesh so much the more willingly, as they
find that by this means they are the more able to work: the
Utopians look upon these as the wiser sect, but they esteem
the others as the most holy. They would indeed laugh at any
man who, from the principles of reason, would prefer an
unmarried state to a married, or a life of labour to an easy
life: but they reverence and admire such as do it from the
motives of religion. There is nothing in which they are more
cautious than in giving their opinion positively concerning
any sort of religion. The men that lead those severe lives are
called in the language of their country Brutheskas, which
answers to those we call Religious Orders.
‘Their priests are men of eminent piety, and therefore
they are but few, for there are only thirteen in every town,
one for every temple; but when they go to war, seven of these
go out with their forces, and seven others are chosen to sup-
ply their room in their absence; but these enter again upon

134 Utopia